GREEN ALERT BY: SALVADOR I. ISORENA/Bicol Peryodiko weekly
Dream Crushers & Idea Killers John C. Maxwell, as a matter of recall, mentioned the first three common reasons that people have trouble in their dreams as follows:
- Some people have been discouraged from dreaming by others. Many people have had their dreams knocked right out of them. The world is filled with dream crushers and idea killers. Some people who aren’t pursuing their own don’t like to see others pursuing theirs. Other people’s success makes them feel inadequate or insecure; (2) Some people are hindered by disappointments and hurts.
- Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality. Disappointments can be highly damaging to us, he warned; (3) Some people get in the habit of settling for average. When we are unsinpired to dream, when we settle for average, we may be tempted to blame it on others, on our circumstances, on the system. But the truth is that mediocrity is always a personal choice.
The last two common reasons are: (4) Some people lack the confidence needed to pursue their dreams. It takes confidence to talk about a dream and even more to pursue it. And sometimes confidence separates the people who dream and pursue those dreams from those who don’t. In her research at the University of Wisconsin, Karen Greno-Malsch discovered that confidence is vital to success.
In a study of children, she found that lower-self-worth translated into 37 percent less willingness to negotiate and the use of 11 percent fewer negotiation strategies with others. She also discovered that the greater a child’s self-worth, the greater the willingness to incur the risks of prolonged negotiation and the greater the adaptability. ‘In other words, the more confidence you have to yourself, the less likely you are to give up trying to get what you want,’ Maxwell added.
Dreams are fragile. And they are at greatest risk when they are new to you, when people you love and respect don’t approve of them, and when you have no past record of success to give you confidence. But confidence based on reality is necessary to strive for your dream. How do you gain such confidence? Through self-knowledge.
Management consultant Judith Bardwick affirms that “real confidence comes from knowing and accepting yourself —your strengths and your limitations –in contrast to depending on the affirmation of others, from the outside.” That’s why Maxwell believes, PUT YOUR DREAM TO THE TEST can help you or others. Answering the questions positively will give a person (you) more confidence to pursue one’s dreams.
(5) Some people lack the imagination to dream. And to this, Maxwell asked: ” HOW DO PEOPLE DiSCOVER THEIR DREAMS? BY DREAMING, he asserted with a sense of authority. That may sound overly simplistic, but that’s where it starts. “IMAGINATION IS THE SOIL THAT BRINGS A DREAM TO LIFE, ” he said with candor and gusto.
In driving his point, Maxwell mentioned Nobel prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein, a dreamer and thinker, who understood the value of the imagination. He said, “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I came to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge. EINSTEIN CALLED HIS IMAGINATION A “HOLY CURIOUSITY.”
Be that as it was, Maxwell averred, “IF YOU COME FROM A DISCOURAGING BACKGROUND, OR YOU DON’T THINK OF YOURSELF AS AN IMAGINATIVE PERSON, DON’T LOSE HOPE. You can still DISCOVER AND DEVELOP A DREAM. GOD HAS PUT THAT ABILITY TO EVERY ONE OF US. ‘”If you know and watch children, then you know that’s true. EVERY CHILD DREAMS. EVERY CHILD POSSESSES IMAGINATION,” he posited. His better half, Margaret and himself observed that when they are with their five grandchildren, they saw their vivid imaginations at work, whisking away from this world to one of their own creation.
YOU HAVE IT IN YOU TO DREAM. His author- friend MAX LUCARDO, he added, is clear about your possibilities: “YOU AREN’T AN ACCIDENT. YOU WEREN’T MASS PRODUCED. YOU AREN’T AN ASSEMBLY-LINE PRODUCT. YOU WERE DELIBERATELY PLANNED, SPECIFICALLY GIFTED, AND LOVINGLY POSITIONED ON THE EARTH BY THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN.”
Businessman HOWARD SCHULTZ, who came from a very humble background, used the FERTILE SOIL OF HIS IMAGINATION TO HELP HIM CULTIVATE THE IDEA OF “STARBUCKS,” the company he founded. Schultz says: “From my personal experience, I’d say that the more uninspiring your origins, the more likely you are to use your IMAGINATION AND INVENT WORLDS WHERE EVERYTHING SEEMS POSSIBLE.
He believes that GOD wants us to DREAM, and to DREAM BIG, because HE’S a BIG GOD who WANTS TO DO BIG THINGS and HE wants to do THEM THROUGH US. Finally, Maxwell’s another friend asserts, “DREAMS ARE RENEWABLE.” No matter what our AGE or CONDITION, there are still UNTAPPED POSSIBILITIES within US and new BEAUTY waiting to BE BORN. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO DREAM,” he concluded.
